December 4, 2004 at 12:36 AM

Excitement! The past couple of weeks have included something new and different for me. Suzuki group leading! I never had really done much Suzuki as a small child and I had never gotten to play in a Suzuki group as a child either. In a sense, I'm almost living a child-hood dream. I remember watching other kids get to play in the groups and seeing films like "Music of the Heart" and going, "I want to do that!" Now, as a "big kid" I get to "do that!" It's been a lot of fun so far. I've done two classes with the help and guidance of my teacher there in the room with me. My teacher is taking time off for an injury and the annual Christmas concert put on by our music school always has a set by each of the Suzuki groups so I'm really excited to get in on the fun this year with them and get to play along with them and lead them. There really is something irrisistable about a whole bunch of little kids with their tiny violins and their eyes and faces glued on you or completely absorbed in what they are doing that they are almost oblivious to what is going on around them. I'm really enjoying this whole experience and it's sparked my interest into learning more about the Suzuki method and the proper approach to teaching it and working with groups.

On top of leading some of the Suzuki groups at Sunday's concert, I'm also going to be accompanying the other teacher's groups on the piano! I can't do all the pieces as from now until Sunday isn't really enough time to learn them all, but I'm going to at least do two of the pieces. On top of all that fun I will be doing a fiddle duet with a really charming student of my teachers. AND! To add to the fun even more and put the icing on that already really yummy chocolate cake, (and not just icing sugar icing, the whipped cream/chocolate pudding stuff) I am going to be playing, both by memory the Bach C major Largo and Kulesha Caprice No.1! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

And that brings this excited blogger to an end for the day! (Now if it would hurry up and start snowing )